William Yau is a six-year-old Malaysian boy who was left in a car with his siblings while his parents went into an electrical appliances store on January 16. According to reports[1], his sister Cindy started crying, prompting him to leave the car to look for his parents. He never came back.

On Thursday, January 24, the body of a boy was found in a river. Based on DNA results released on January 28, police have confirmed[2] that it is indeed the body of William.

The search for William was triggered by the media using the NUR Alert and had then spread quickly online, with Malaysians posting banners and pictures on their blogs to help locate him. Everyday people from Eliza Teh[3], to seasoned journalists like Nuraina Samad[4] and Ahirudin Attan[5] had used their blogs to bring attention to William’s case.

[6]

William Yau posters were shared on various social networking sites. Photo from Facebook of hitz.fm Kuching

Even now, there has been an outpouring of grief for William’s family on social media.

Joel[7] recounted how he, too, was separated from his parents when he was a child.

I still remember the incident well; a 5 year old kid in his pajamas, wandering around the former City Square mall in KL (Kuala Lumpur). My parents were doing their shopping at Metrojaya, and I was restless. I walked off to the nearest Toys R’ Us without them knowing and before long, had gotten myself lost. The fact that I'm writing this right now is proof enough that nothing untoward happened to me.

The same cannot be said of little William Yau.

The William Yau case, which has dominated headlines and various social networking sites has come to the worst conclusion possible. Little William's badly decomposed body was found floating in a river in Klang, a week after the news of his disappearance set into motion a huge search for him. I feel a heavy sense of grief weighing down on my person, I feel the pain of little William's family members, the pain of losing someone dear.

[8]

Netizens helped in spreading news about the search for the missing boy. Photo from Tumblr of Made by Malaysians

Parents’ worst nightmare is losing a child. We as parents usually have in mind that we are the ones to go first. I guess we all know that death comes to anybody regardless of age, but no one is prepared when the situation actually happens.

My heart goes to the parent of William Yau. May your child rest in peace.

I have a 6 year old son too, hope who ever did this to your son is caught and receive severe punishment. Malaysia has quite a number of missing children and not even one kidnapper is caught. This is something you need to ponder. It indeed worries and saddens you to think that these criminals are still at large.

Many Malaysians, including celebrities and politicians, took to Twitter to express their grief.

@SheilaMajid[10] We r deeply saddened & share d grief on d demise of William Yau.May God give d family strength to deal with this & may he rest in peace.☹

@WardinaSafiyyah[11] William Yau parents I am so sorry. William Yau Zhen Zhong, went missing since Jan 16. :( Police fished out a 7 yr old body from Sungai Sireh

@joannabessey[12] Heartfelt condolences to William Yau&family.As people of Mlysia&the world, we MUST end this heinous treatment of children+human trafficking

@drchuaSL[13] our deepest condolences to William Yau's family and hope that the abductor/murderer will be arrested as soon as possible.

Interestingly, as the official post-mortem have not yet been completed, many Malaysians appear to have concluded that it is a crime, calling for the perpetrator(s) to be brought to justice, probably because of the high-profile Nurin Jazlin Jazimin case[15].

The preliminary post-mortem results were deemed insufficient to determine the cause of death, and the police are not ruling out[16] any theories, including that he fell into the drain or that he was killed then dumped into it. However, they are re-recording statements[17] from key witnesses due to certain inconsistencies.